Thursday, June 30, 2011

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has been incommunicado for three weeks and is now in Cuba for medical treatment. Today he made an appearance on Venezuelan television (reportedly recorded in Cuba) and confirmed the rumors: he has cancer. It’s not clear what kind, but prostate cancer was rumored. Fausta has the video and a translation.

In other news, the EU released its new (bloated) budget, prompting Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden to complain about the excessive spending. Meanwhile, Brussels has proposed an EU-wide VAT to help pay for all its nifty programs.

Also, the case against former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn may be falling apart. The NYC police reportedly think that the main witness against Mr. Strauss-Kahn lacks credibility, after repeatedly lying to investigators.

Thanks to AC, C. Cantoni, Erick Stakelbeck, Fausta, Fjordman, JD, Van Grungy, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Our Dutch correspondent Serge Leipzigger sends his translation of an unusual article about the new Gaza flotilla, written by a participant who had second thoughts and got out. He follows it with additional translated material.

He includes this explanatory note:

Hasna El Maroudi, 26, can be described as a “Dutch pro-Palestinian activist/journalist of Moroccan descent.” She had planned to join other activists aboard a Dutch ship to Gaza, until she learned that she would be going on a secret Hamas-organized mission, and cancelled her participation. On Wednesday she published a rare inside account of what she saw in Greece as the activists were preparing to set sail. This English translation of her account is meant to meant to help her discoveries traverse the language barrier.

I have been to the Greek island of Corfu over the past few days. I got to know the activists and journalists intending to sail to Gaza and received training on non-violent resistance from Anne de Jong, a passenger in the previous flotilla.

Although I had intended to report on the sail for Uitgesproken Vara and Joop, I was going first and foremost as an activist. I want Israel to lift the illegal blockade on Gaza and give the people that which they are entitled to have: Self-rule.

And that is also the issue for me: The population there. The Palestinian youths who published a document last year in which they expressed their longing for leading a normal life. I didn’t go for any political movement or for those in power.

When I decided to subject myself to the voyage and the long list of preparatory engagements and training sessions it entailed, I presented the organizers with one single crucial demand: I wanted to know exactly who would sail with me on the Italian-Dutch ship and requested to have the opportunity to meet them all in advance before embarking on the trip.

I did not want to be surprised by the presence of figures or organizations with which I did not want to become involved. I was told that my demand was self-evident: There would be team-building and “we are going to have it in Greece.”

Despite assurances to the contrary, the Italian activists who were supposed to sail with us were nowhere to be seen upon our arrival in Corfu. More crucially, the Dutch delegation was isolated on the island. The rest of the flotilla was in Athens.

I repeatedly I asked to receive a tentative list of all the passengers. Realizing that many difficulties had been put in the organizers’ path, I did not expect to receive a complete list of participants. I would have been satisfied with the available information. No such information was given. Despite my insistence on receiving the list in advance, it was given to me when I decided to return to Holland. Too late.

(AGI) Brussels — Some members of Vlaams Belang, an intensely xenophobic Flemish nationalist group, occupied the roof of an Antwerp building that the municipal authorities will turn into a mosque. The protest against “the islamisation of Antwerp” and the “supermosque” (as Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter defined it) may continue next week with a pork barbecue in the same building.

Hat tip: C. Cantoni. Many thanks to Vlaams Belang for sending us the photo.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - The United States will resume limited contacts with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed on Thursday, saying it was in Washington’s interests to deal with parties committed to non-violent politics.

While Clinton portrayed the administration’s decision as a continuation of an earlier policy, it reflects a subtle shift in that U.S. officials will be able to deal directly with officials of the Islamist movement who are not members of parliament.

The move, first reported by Reuters on Wednesday, is likely to upset Israel and its U.S. supporters who have deep misgivings about the Brotherhood, a group founded in 1928 that seeks to promote its conservative vision of Islam in society.

Under president Hosni Mubarak, a key U.S. ally, the Brotherhood was formally banned, but since the ousting of the secular former general by a popular uprising in February, the Islamists are seen as a major force in forthcoming elections.

“We believe, given the changing political landscape in Egypt, that it is in the interests of the United States to engage with all parties that are peaceful, and committed to non-violence, that intend to compete for the parliament and the presidency,” Clinton told reporters at a news conference.

“Now in any of those contacts, prior or future, we will continue to emphasize the importance of and support for democratic principles and especially a commitment to non-violence, respect for minority rights, and the full inclusion of women in any democracy,” she added.

Clinton would not say whether the Obama administration had already begun such contacts or at what level it planned to deal with the group.

On Wednesday, a senior U.S. official disclosed the decision to Reuters, saying that where U.S. diplomats previously dealt only with group members in their role as parliamentarians, a policy he said had been in place since 2006, they will now deal directly with Brotherhood officials.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

It was a real cliffhanger, but at the last minute the Greek parliament voted by a narrow margin to implement the austerity measures that will allow the country to receive its next tranche of EU bailout money and avoid insolvency. Protesters in downtown Athens, who object to the new austerity plan, were confronted by riot police using tear gas and plastic bullets to drive them into the Syntagma Square metro station, which they thought would serve as a refuge. However, the police threw tear gas grenades down into the station, afflicting the rioters with the gas in an enclosed space. Respiratory distress and other injuries reportedly sent a number of the protesters to local hospitals.

In other news, three jihadis in New York were sentenced to 25 years in prison for planning to shoot down military planes and execute attacks on two synagogues.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Mary Abdelmassih, Nick, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

I predicted last night that the lull in the Mediterranean refugee crisis wouldn’t last long, and I was right — less than twenty-four hours later Lampedusa was inundated again. As a result the Cultural Enrichment Thermometer in the above graphic has had to be updated, but it required a close look at the various news stories to decide by how much.

(ANSAmed) — Rome, June 29 — Two large boats carrying immigrants landed on the shores of Lampedusa in the early morning hours today. On the boats, which were assisted by port authority patrol boats, there were an overall 553 migrants including about 50 women and 17 children. The immigrants are from Sub-Saharan Africa and may have weighed anchor from Libya.

The longer story below is plainly a somewhat more detailed account of the same two landings:

Two Boatloads of Immigrants Land in Lampedusa

Women and children among more than 500 arrivals

(ANSA) — Lampedusa, June 29 — Two large boats carrying more than 500 immigrants landed on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa early Wednesday.

Port authority officials met the first boat with around 225 immigrants as it arrived at the entrance to the port, while coast guard officials then intercepted the second boat carrying around 328 people two miles off the coast.

The immigrants were mostly from sub-Saharan Africa and the boats included more than 50 women and 17 children.

Both boats are believed to have departed from Libya and the new arrivals were immediately transferred to the island’s immigrant welcome centre.

But this report from AGI seems to describe a separate incident involving a single boat carrying more than 800 enrichers.

The following op-ed was published last month in Die Welt (subscription required), and has been translated for Gates of Vienna by JLH.

I’m amazed that this article appeared in the German MSM. Yes, I realize that the author’s arguments have their deficiencies — I can see them as clearly as you. However, as with a dog walking on his hind legs, the amazing thing is not how well it is done, but that it is done at all.

Ideology of Powerby Josef Lödin

Islam, as am ideology does not belong to Europe. It is not willing to regard religion, society and politics separately. Freedom, nucleus of the European Enlightenment, is alien to it.

Everyone — regardless of race or religion — can feel at home in Europe, provided he accepts and internalizes the essential values of European civilization. They were fought for and won in difficult battles between state and religion, individual and society, philosophy, science, art and faith. The nucleus of European Enlightenment is the freedom of the individual. This freedom is the greatest of possessions; with it comes questioning tradition, choosing a life different from that prescribed by the collective. This freedom was often paid for with one’s life. People allowed themselves to be burned at the stake, accepted torture, persecution, murder. We know that “spiritual progress” (Freud) is not a one-way street; that retreats in our European Enlightenment were often more powerful than advances; that barbarism was always and everywhere a reality. Nonetheless, the world will not get around the idea of freedom. And Islam too will founder on this idea. As Europeans, we are not prepared to give up our idea of freedom.

We are not talking about the individual who comes from Islamic culture and wants to be a Muslim, but about Islam as a philosophy and “idea of civilization.” Islam does not belong in Europe because it does not wish to regard religion, culture, society and politics as separate, but decisively wants to support its own unity. This mindset is not unknown to Europe. Both Judaism and Christianity are acquainted with this idea of unity under the banner of a faith. All religions would like have the effect of building civilization, but, in an arduous battle, Europe has distanced itself from the idea of omnipotence in religion.

Islam does not belong in Europe, because in this respect it is dragging along centuries behind. Because it places faith above science and enlightenment. It knows no Reformation. It has not experienced the battle between philosophy, science and church, for which the church paid by giving up its claim to omnipotence. With all due tolerance to traditional beliefs, European civilization cannot accept the superiority of faith over philosophy, science, art and enlightenment. Above all, Islam does not belong in Europe, despite Ataturk, because it is a stranger to the separation of politics and religion. Islam is in its essence a political theology. It is not by chance that its expansion came with the sword. Islam is an ideology of power. In its developing phase, it was not carried by a tradition of powerlessness, as was Judaism (“We were slaves in Egypt”) and Christianity, which had to defend itself against persecution and repression. Islam, to the contrary, played the part of master of the world from the start. Even though nothing of that is left, the claim has been internalized.

Islam is not European, because it put the collective above the individual, because it is not prepared to defend the individual from the collective, because it disregards the rights of minorities and because — all lip-service to the contrary notwithstanding — it maintains the greater value of the man. The culturally internalized inferiority of the woman has been a reality in Islam for centuries. You have to have a lot of sand in your eyes to justify or deny this. Islam can never be European, because the non-Muslim is an incomplete human being. Islam cannot be part of Europe, because criticizing it is forbidden, because apostasy of a Muslim is punished by death, because heresy is seen as more serious than all crimes against civil law. Islam does not belong in Europe, because it cruelly persecutes sexual minorities and is capable of no effective tolerance.

I strongly recommend that you pass this report around, especially if you live in Canada, or have friends or relatives in Canada. Included are the phone numbers and email addresses of those responsible for this travesty:

Islamic Ritual Prayer Conducted at Toronto District School Board Middle School

I received this e-mail from Mark Harding. I phoned Valley Park Middle School, who in a panic directed me to call the TDSB directly @ 416-397-3000. The TDSB “Communications Dept.” is so far incommunicado -they are away at a meeting.

Islamic ritual prayers are done in my 13 year old daughter’s middle school on every Friday.

Every Friday my daughter’s school cafeteria changes into a mosque as dozens of Muslim boys and their imams (Islamic preachers) lead Islamic ritual prayers and no one else can even walk through the cafeteria.

Some imams (Islamic preachers) come from the outside of the school and lead Muslim students in the Islamic prayer and this happens at the school Cafeteria after the lunch on Fridays. All other non-Muslims are in classes in the afternoon when they are using the cafeteria as mosque. There is a mosque nearby but the Muslim kids pray in the school

School administration take part preparing the Cafeteria and making it into mosque every Friday and no one but Muslims can use the Cafeteria during the Islamic prayers on Friday.

And there are a number of other incidents involving Islam and other anti-Christian issues that I complained about, including a white convert to Islam who was a supply teacher and who openly promoted Islam and bashed Christianity last year!”

I’ve just been having discussions with some of our British friends about the general fastidiousness and disdain shown by the English middle- and upper-classes towards the working-class “fascist brutes” of the English Defence League. It put me in mind of a certain poem by Rudyard Kipling, especially since the leader of the EDL has taken “Tommy Robinson” as his nom de guerre.

So let’s dedicate this one to Tommy Robinson and the English Defence League:

Tommyby Rudyard Kipling

I went into a public-’ouse to get a pint o’ beer,The publican ’e up an’ sez, “We serve no red-coats here.”The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die,I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I: O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, go away”; But it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play, The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play, O it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,They gave a drunk civilian room, but ’adn’t none for me;They sent me to the gallery or round the music-’alls,But when it comes to fightin’, Lord! they’ll shove me in the stalls! For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, wait outside”; But it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide, The troopship’s on the tide, my boys, the troopship’s on the tide, O it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide.

Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleepIs cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap;An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bitIs five times better business than paradin’ in full kit. Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, ’ow’s yer soul?” But it’s “Thin red line of ’eroes” when the drums begin to roll, The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll, O it’s “Thin red line of ’eroes” when the drums begin to roll.

Fox News and other outlets are running a brief AP story about the latest capture of another AlQaeda cross dresser terrorist leader caught while disguised as a woman:

A senior leader of an Al Qaeda-linked terror group has been captured in northern Afghanistan dressed up like a woman — the latest in a recent series of cases involving male militants disguised as females, the U.S.-led military coalition said Tuesday.

A “male militant”? For heaven’s sake! These cowardly contortions of language strain one’s good will toward… toward our own side, actually. Both the U.S. military leaders’ equivocations and the trained-dog repetitions by our press make one’s eyes glaze over.

Meanwhile in Egypt there’s an outrage outbreak over a Mickey Mouse cartoon. I love cartoon rage; inevitably it ends up mocking itself.

This time, the richest businessman in Egypt (a Copt — it figures) thought it would be amusing to tweet a bearded Mickey Mouse cartoon. The Telegraph questions the man’s motives:

…Although Mr Sawiris claimed to be acting in jest, he is a Coptic Christian and religious tensions, particularly between Salafis and Christians, having been running high since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in January…

Since January?? Since when haven’t “religious tensions” toward Copts been “high”? Copts show up for their services on Sundays and they’re easy pickings for an angry, hungry, illiterate hoi polloi. The question is why the Telegraph jornolists elide enough information to permit one infer that these “tensions” are a result of the recent political turmoil when in fact persecuting Copts is simply what Egyptian Muslims do.

Meanwhile the dervish dance must go on: calls for a boycott begin; the lawyers are lining up; Facebook pages o’ rage proliferate. These steps have long been choreographed by a culture in love with its own grievance rage.

Thus will we have crowds with ugly signs, the even uglier Rage Boy participants, and the special flammable flags. That last one might be a bit tougher here — unless Mr. Sawiris’ mobile phone company has a handy logo. They could jam paper copies onto sticks and wave them before settling down to a weenie roast. Halal weenies, of course. It’s unlikely any of them will actually cut their Mobinil connections. They’re crazy and stupid, but not that stupid. How else could they transmit their circuses to the waiting world of breathless MSM morons?

Although this bearded Mickey image Sawiris sent out is supposed to be “all over the internet” I haven’t found it. And no bonfires over Minnie in all her veiled glory. Perhaps it’s because Minnie is a woman so who cares? Or maybe the move against Sawiris is useful?

Michelle Malkin reminds us of the pictures drawn with the other hand — i.e., all those Jew-bashing cartoons that are ubiquitous in the Arab world. She has a few of the milder images up for your perusal.

What would be cognitive dissonance for a Western mind doesn’t present any problems at all for a Muslim. Come to think of it, their double standard is a direct inheritance from Mohammed: one rule for the believers and another (lethal) rule for the infidels. Hey, it works for them: cartoons for the Jihad but carnage for the rest of us. Yes, indeed: it’s in the Koran.

Oh…and the real reason for Mr. Sawiris’ jest and the Salafist-driven reflix rage?

The noted blogger Fjordman is filing this report via Gates of Vienna.For a complete Fjordman blogography, see The Fjordman Files. There is also a multi-index listing here.

I have decided to close comments on some of the future essays I post here at Gates of Vienna. I will continue to write about controversial subjects, and I suspect that my most controversial texts have yet to be written. However, precisely due to the sensitive nature of some of the issues we talk about here we have to carefully balance how we present them if we want it to have an effect and let the message sink in with the right people. If you walk into a minefield you have to be extra careful with what you do, otherwise the result could be unpleasant.

I believe we are about to enter a prolonged period of great turbulence, financially, politically and ethnically, possibly involving wars in several Western countries as a direct consequence of non-European mass immigration. I will continue to talk about these issues, as I have done in the past, but I know from experience that these subjects have the potential to trigger a great deal of online turbulence that is not always very fruitful. For this reason, I will close comments when dealing with the most controversial subject-matters. I don’t intend to close comments on all of my posts but will watch how it goes with this policy for the time being.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The big news today concerns the Taliban attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, which killed at least twelve people before NATO took out the attackers. See Dymphna’s post for more details.

While that was going on, a two-day general strike was underway in Greece in protest of the austerity measures required by the “troika” before the next tranche of bailout money can be released. Prime Minister Papandreou’s popularity has plummeted, and protesters in downtown Athens threw firebombs and fought with riot police.

In other news, the departure of the new Gaza flotilla has been delayed by the intervention of an Israeli advocacy group. One of the flotilla’s vessels was sabotaged in a Greek port and made unseaworthy. The possibility that the flotilla might not be covered by maritime insurance policies, due to its participation in terrorist-related activities, has caused some vessels to withdraw, and only ten ships and fewer than 300 passengers are now expected to be involved.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JD, Nick, Nilk, Srdja Trifkovic, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

I was away for several days last week, and have been trying to catch up ever since, so the “Camp of the Saints” news has been neglected. However, during that time there has been somewhat of a lull, and not much has happened over the past week or so.

There’s just one story about a new boatload of culture-enrichers. It’s from Expatica, and concerns the rescue by the Spanish navy of 54 migrants:

Spanish Navy Rescues 54 North Africans From Sea

A total of 54 people sailing from North Africa towards the Spanish coast were rescued at sea early Thursday, Spanish maritime sources said. The group including two pregnant women and two babies were aboard a rubber boat when their boat were seen by a spotter plane and rescued by a Spanish Navy craft 52 nautical miles off the coast of southern Spain, the sources said. Spain is a major entry point for a wave of illegal immigrants fleeing poverty in Africa for the European Union.

Of the enrichers already in Italy, six escaped from a holding facility in Cagliari, on the southern coast of Sardinia, and caused some headaches for the local authorities:

Tunisian Immigrants on the Run, Cagliari Airport Closed

(AGI) Cagliari — Cagliari Airport was closed from 11 pm last night to 6:42 am this morning following instructions by ENAC.

The measure was taken for precautionary reason after 6 Tunisian immigrants escaped from the First Reception Center of Elmas, in the nearby military airport, where they had stayed for almost a month.

Tonight’s final article once again concerns the issue of responsibility for the would-be immigrants who have perished at sea while attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. As discussed in previous posts, NATO vessels — particularly French ones — were accused of deliberately ignoring a stricken vessel and leaving it to drift on the water until most of the passengers died of hunger and thirst.

The Council of Europe, however, has extended its attention beyond that single incident, and is investigating the deaths of many other boat people.

Apart from “official” business such as the meeting with Congressman Allen West and collecting donations for my defense fund, I was able to catch up with some friends from various ACT! chapters who came in from across the nation. In addition, I spent a day in my favorite outlet mall in Woodbridge, VA.

On the last day of the conference, I had dinner with chapter leaders from Michigan and Texas. We decided on an Indian restaurant near the hotel: “Rajaji Curry House” on Connecticut Avenue. The still ongoing happy hour and the mouth-watering menu made our decision to spend the evening in this restaurant particularly easy. As we sat down, we immediately ordered our drinks and some appetizers while perusing the menu in detail. The menu did indeed promise good food. However, while the others chatted I took a closer look at the menu and imagine my shock and horror when — on the very last page and in fine print — the menu read: “We serve halal food.”

I cried out: “Sorry, you guys, but we have to get out of here! I cannot eat halal food. I am leaving. Now.”

The others immediately concurred with my decision. We motioned for the waiter and told him we would pay only for our drinks; the food order was canceled as the food was halal. The waiter was only very mildly indignant. He obviously realized that we knew exactly what halal meant. We ran outside and had an excellent meal across the street at an Irish pub. Very definitely not halal!

I always spend the early part of the day of my flight home at an outlet mall. Like last year, my destination was Potomac Mills Mall in Woodbridge, Virginia. Imagine my dismay when this year I saw this huge banner displayed in the mall, one that wasn’t there a year ago:

Fjordman’s follow-up essay on Edward Said has been published at Jihad Watch. Some excerpts are below:

Salah al-Din or Saladin (ca. 1138-1193), the general loved by Muslims for his victories against the Crusaders, is renowned in Western history for his supposedly tolerant nature. Very few seem to recall that his son and heir Al-Aziz Uthman tried to demolish the world-famous pyramids at Giza outside of Cairo, Egypt, just three years after his father’s death. The only reason why we can still visit them is because the task at hand was so big that he eventually gave up the attempt. They were hard to build, and hard to destroy. The Pyramid of Menkaure, the smallest of the three major ones at Giza, was nevertheless visibly damaged on one side.

This detail is almost always left out when apologists write about how tolerant and enlightened Muslims supposedly were compared to the primitive Europeans. This attempted destruction was not carried out by Saladin himself, but it would not be unreasonable to mention when writing about him that his devout Muslim son did this shortly after he died. There are also indications that a process of pillaging ancient monuments had begun during Saladin’s reign.

Mark Lehner is an American archaeologist with decades of experience excavating in Egypt. He is widely considered to be one of the foremost living experts on the Giza Pyramids, having devoted his life to studying them, and has appeared on numerous television documentaries. Here is what Lehner says in his book The Complete Pyramids [1997, hardback], page 41:

“Abd al-Latif reports the destruction of a number of small pyramids by the Emir Karakoush during Saladin’s reign (AD 1138-93). It must have been Karakoush who removed the satellite pyramid south of Khafre’s pyramid, and who began dismantling Khufu’s subsidiary pyramids. Other stones, probably from the two larger pyramids, were used for walls in the growing city of Cairo. The plunder of casing stone from the Great Pyramid continued during succeeding generations until the outer mantle was finally stripped bare. Abd al-Latif also enthused about the Sphinx, already known by its modern Arabic name, Abu Hol, ‘Father of Terror’. He described its handsome face, ‘covered with a reddish tint, and a red varnish as bright as if freshly painted’. He specifically mentions the nose, which leads us to think that it was still intact, contrary to indications that it may have been missing as early as the 10th century. It is certain that someone removed it before the early 15th century when another Arab historian, al-Maqrizi, wrote about it. The nose was long gone, at any rate, by the time Napoleon visited Giza in 1798, although he is often blamed for its removal.”

Nato helicopters fired on and killed members of a Taliban squad who attacked a landmark Kabul hotel on Tuesday night where senior Afghan officials were staying.

At least six Taliban, some of them suicide bombers, were involved in the assault on the Inter-Continental, which began when militants in civilian clothes burst into the hotel while many guests were in the dining room and others were attending at least two receptions, including a wedding party.

The Nato rocket attack appeared to have brought an end to the fighting, which lasted for more than four hours.

Go to link at the Guardian to see a photo that is sure to make the rounds. Compelling.

They didn’t even wait a fortnight after Obama revealed his plans to draw down troops in Afghanistan before the Taliban did a Mumbai-style attack on a hotel in Kabul which caters to Westerners.

…Initial reports indicate that 14 people may have been killed while fighting is still underway.

A heavily armed Taliban assault team, estimated at six fighters strong, penetrated several rings of security at the Intercontinental and have entered the hotel. Three or four members of the assault team broke through the security, entered the hotel, and began targeting the guests, many of whom are foreigners. Many of the hotel guests were in the restaurant at the time of the attack. At least one Taliban sniper is said to have opened fire on security forces using rocket propelled grenades and a rifle from the rooftop. Afghan security forces have surrounded the hotel, cut off power, and are engaging the remaining Taliban fighters.

The Taliban, via their spokesman, Zahibullah Mujahid, claimed credit for the attack in a statement released to the press.

Meanwhile, back at the White House last week, we were treated to a schedule of events. Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s report of the speech back then, “Obama Sets Afghan Rollback”:

The Eurozone is on the verge of implosion. The current economic downturn has driven millions more European workers into long-term unemployment. The welfare states of Europe are facing eventual bankruptcy. The European Union is pushing for an increase in its centralized soft-totalitarian power.

Yet, in the midst of all this doom-and-gloom, Germany remains an economic powerhouse. So what do ordinary Germans have to look forward to?

Millions and millions of new immigrants.

In the interview below, the head of the German research group Ifo talks about the additional waves of immigrants that can be expected in Germany in the coming years. Not all of them will be Muslims, and many of them will come from other parts of Europe.

Note: “Ifo” is an abbreviation for “Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung”. The acronym is formed from the words Information and Forschung (research).

Since May 1, East Europeans have been allowed without limitation to work in Germany. Ifo head Hans-Werner Sinn explains why we cannot do without this immigration.

Workers from the EU countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary have had to wait seven years. How well prepared is Germany for the new job seekers?

Excellently! We are having an economic boom like nothing for 20 years. Because of the financial crisis, money from savings is no longer flowing out of the country, but is invested here. Investments are an internal thing and furthermore are creating work positions. And exports are flourishing. The situation could not be better for the opening of the borders.

How many immigrants will come to Germany?

We can count on millions of immigrants in the next ten years.

Can you be more exact?

No. Dependable prognoses are hardly possible. However, I expect many more than the 140,000 per year assumed by the federal employment agency. Such low predictions do not sufficiently allow for what is happening in financial markets and differential economic development in the Eurozone. You must take into consideration that a long-term economic lull is to be expected where the immigrants have been going until now, while Germany will boom because it is no longer sending its capital abroad.

But are the East Europeans really that mobile?

In just the past ten years, 2.3 million EU citizens have migrated to Spain, 650,000 to Ireland and over 600,000 workers plus dependents to England, etc. There is a potential of several million mobile people. And a considerable portion of them will come to Germany. In addition, our own citizens from the economically becalmed West European countries, as well as East Europeans who find it too long a way to Spain or Ireland, will immigrate to Germany.

With this forecast you are far beyond the assumptions of many politicians and jobs market researchers. What is driving people to us?

Ten years ago, most immigration experts expected that inside 10 to 15 years after establishment of freedom of movement 2 to 3 percent of the native populations would emigrate. In actual fact, however, within 4 years, without freedom of movement, 5 percent of Poles emigrated. A great many Romanians are also on the move. Migrations in Europe to date exceed the predictions by many factors. Several EU states opened their borders sooner than Germany. Now the immigrants will divide up anew.

The president of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce declared that Germany is possibly not attractive enough to draw many qualified job-seekers.

That is true for academics. But our wage rates for skilled workers are high and attractive enough to entice immigrants, if there are available positions.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has ordered the country’s defense establishment to stop the new Gaza flotilla from reaching its destination. The ships are being offered alternate off-loading ports in Israel itself. The IDF is being asked to avoid violence if possible, but is tasked with stopping any ships from reaching Gaza.

In other news, the deputy prime minister of Greece criticized opponents of the country’s austerity plan, some of whom are demanding a withdrawal from the eurozone and a return to the drachma. The austerity debate has been taken up in parliament while the mass protests in Athens continue.

Meanwhile, residents in villages 30 to 40 km away from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan have been discovered to have radioactive urine.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Elisabeth and I renewed our acquaintance with Col. West last Thursday afternoon following ACT! for America’s legislative briefing on Capitol Hill. The Colonel is now a member of Congress representing Florida’s 22nd District, and is perhaps the most knowledgeable and dedicated anti-jihad politician in Congress. We caught up with him that afternoon at his office in the Longworth Building.

We had arranged to meet with Rep. West for three closely-related reasons. First of all, Elisabeth wanted to update him on the status of her case: since she last spoke to him, she had been tried and convicted of “denigration of religious beliefs of a legally recognized religion” for her statements about Mohammed’s sexual proclivities, as evidenced by the consummation of his marriage to a nine-year-old girl. Readers who are unfamiliar with the details of Elisabeth’s case should see the archive for more information.

Our second purpose was to acquaint the congressman with some of the more prominent European political parties that oppose the Islamization of their countries. Col. West already knows Geert Wilders, of course, and there are other parties — some of them relatively new — with whom he may well want to establish a working relationship. Elisabeth and I spoke for a while about several of these parties, and discussed the possibility of his visiting Europe at some point in the future for an on-site look at what is happening.

Our third reason for meeting with him was to present him with a briefing paper on the growing Islamization of Western Europe, and the resulting emergence of social and political resistance to it. This document was designed to be used as a reference for Rep. West when he hears about one of these “Islamophobic” parties in the news, or is contacted by their representatives. It gives an outline of the parties’ current electoral status, and grades each party and organization based on its philosophy, origins, legislative positions, and political allies.

The information we provided can be readily consulted by the congressman and his staff to help them understand the current situation in Europe without relying on biased presentations by the media and EU government bodies. The briefing paper contains better information than the CIA could provide, since it is gathered through grassroots networks in Europe rather than assembled from European media digests.

The data for the paper were collected and written up by various European members of the International Civil Liberties Alliance living in the countries involved. I acted as the overall collator and editor, and also wrote the general introduction. An excerpt:

Would you mind posting a request for any of your readers to forward me any good links or citations they might have on any topic relating to Islamic sexuality?

I have a bunch of data, but I’m always on the lookout for more.

So anyone who has any material on Islamic perversions should send it to Ms. Barnhardt. Her email address is posted on her website.

The Koran-burning buzzsaw Ann Barnhardt will be the keynote speaker at a Las Vegas event in September. She sent along this notice yesterday, which is also posted at her blog:

Live Event Booked — Back to Vegas

I am going to be speaking at the Center For Strategic Analysis' annual seminar in Las Vegas on Saturday, September 24th. It is a one day seminar that will have a variety of speakers from the intelligence and military communities (before they went to hell) on various topics having to do with counter-Jihad and the war against islam.

And yes, since we’re now in Bizarro World, I am going to be the keynote speaker. My speaking block is one hour and forty-five minutes. I have decided that I will use this event to roll-out my magnum opus on the systemic sexual perversion in islamic culture. This is a massive topic, and my rough outline contains no less than NINE discreet sub-topics. I think that delivering this as a speech with an associated PowerPoint slideshow including photographs and video citations will be extremely effective. My speech is entitled, “Islamic Sexuality: A Survey of Evil”.

One of our readers, an anthropologist of sorts, sent in this After Action Report on the experiential effects of his participation in the Friday prayers at a mosque in his city on the West Coast.

Some background on the writer of this essay: he’s Portuguese but now an American citizen. Like his patron, São João De Deus, he sees his mission as one of healing: João’s ‘patient’ is our ailing Western culture.

Like the rest of us, João is alarmed by Islam’s knee-jerk hostility toward anything beyond its own ideological boundaries. However, he has proactively lit a candle and followed his concern right into the heart of the oncoming darkness. [You’re a braver man than I am, Gunga João].

Islam is nothing if not militant. Thus João follows Colonel Boyd’s strategies as outlined in the OODA loop’s recurring cycles. João has been systematically thorough in his use of Boyd’s cycles. Would that our military leaders were half as curious and determined as João has been to comprehend what we really face.

First, he learned Arabic. This served two purposes: to begin with, it allowed him access into public conversations in those pockets of cultural enrichment in his city. Since his visage (and his gender) would permit him to “pass” unnoticed, he eavesdropped quite openly. The public hatred he heard for non-Muslims made him determined to learn more.

Second, knowing the language allowed him to see the original Koran and hadith, and to contemplate the inescapable understanding that Islam’s “reformation” must remain a myth. It is simply Western-centric thinking to believe in the possible transformaton of a Middle Eastern tribal mindset.

Both experiences left him deeply appalled and concerned for his country and for the West itself.

His next step was to attend Friday prayers in one of the mosques in his city, simply to experience the Friday prayers for himself. As you will see, he came away with an experiential comprehension of Islam’s “hold” on its followers. As he said in his email:

Part of how we can break the grip of the Islamic cult is to experience and to analyze how these rituals shape Muslim minds. It is only then that we can hope to deconstruct and demolish this cult.

What follows here is but one experience from his many years of immersion.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As you know, I have long been studying Arabic. Now, moving on to Koranic recitation, I can explain the strong narcotic effect of Islamic prayer. Within the experience, I can see how the chanting is akin to Rap tempos and rhythms. Recently I did the whole Muslim prayer sequence. It was difficult but the process brought much insight I couldn’t have gained any other way.

This congressman is a real fiscal conservative. I had met him on previous occasions, and highly respect him. He’s been in Congress for a while, but has managed to hang on to his principles. If the rest of Congress were like him — even if just the rest of the Republicans were like him — the country might not be careening towards financial disaster.

During the presentations that morning several speakers had mentioned the national debt, and how crucial debt reduction is for our national security. They cited the current figure of $14.1 trillion, emphasizing this unacceptably huge accumulation of debt.

And it is unacceptably huge. But the actual national debt is far larger than the official figure. Even if we assume that we won’t borrow more money — which we cannot avoid, since the sluggish economy and depleted tax revenues will force us to raise the debt ceiling just to meet the interest payments on the existing debt — our current debt is much higher. If Congress and the president were honest, they would add in our obligation to the Social Security “trust fund”, which now contains nothing but IOUs. If those were included, how many more trillion dollars would be added to the national debt?

And then there are the unfunded federal pensions, the expected steep increase in Medicare and Medicaid (with or without Obamacare), the possible future bailouts of bankrupt states like California, and on and on. The actual debt is many trillions of dollars higher than the official figure, and getting higher every day.

With all that in mind, I approached the congressman, shook his hand, and told him how much I appreciated his work. I emphasized that the criticism I was about to voice was not directed at him.

Then I said:

“They’ve been talking about the national debt in there, and how it has to be reduced. But it’s grown so large now that it can’t possibly be paid off.

“No matter how much we raise taxes or cut spending, there’s no way it can be done, not without inflating the currency.”

The following position paper on the independence of Flanders was sent to us by Gerolf Annemans of Vlaams Belang.

Flemish independence

Abstract of party position

Vlaams Belang strives for the dissolution of the Belgian state. The division of the Scandinavian Union into Norway and Sweden (1905), the division of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia (1992) and the recent independence of Montenegro (2006) prove that it is possible to dissolve a state and become independent in a peaceful, democratic and internationally accepted way.

The right to self-determination

The right to self-determination has been repeatedly and explicitly acknowledged, for example in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the Helsinki Final Act (1975) and in the final declaration of the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna (1993). The right to self-determination is universal, on a moral and a judicial level.

Why independence?

There are enormous cultural and political differences between Flemings and Walloons. Flanders and Wallonia are actually two completely different countries. Decent policy-making is impossible in Belgium: The Belgian governments are paralyzed by the ongoing disputes between Flemish and Walloon politicians, who disagree about almost everything. Security, justice, social and economic policy, immigration and asylum, tax law and foreign policy: There is no consensus on any of these issues. The Flemish solutions are flatly opposed to those of the Walloons. Flemish independence is a matter of principle for Vlaams Belang, but also an absolute necessity for an effective and efficient policy. Flanders already has a Flemish parliament with its own (limited) authority. This parliament could easily become the legitimate representation of the independent Flemish state.

Small but prosperous

When Flanders and Wallonia become sovereign states, twelve countries in the European Union will still be smaller than Flanders , even six that will be smaller than Wallonia . With its (more than) six million inhabitants and its internationally oriented economy, Flanders will belong to the group of small, prosperous countries, such as Ireland (3,7 million inhabitants), Norway (4,4 million), Finland (5,2 million), Denmark (5,3 million), Switzerland (7,1 million), Austria (8,1 million) and Sweden (8,9 million). There are very strong economic arguments in favor of Flemish independence. For example, Flanders produces three-quarters of the Belgian gross domestic product (GDP). It also counts for more than 80% of Belgian exportations. When it comes to the gross domestic product per capita, Flanders does better than other countries such as Germany, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Ireland, Finland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.

Flemish money in Flemish hands

Vlaams Belang wants to stop the compulsory and opaque flow of money from Flanders to Wallonia - at least 12,68 billion euros each year. This way, the Flemish people lose more than 7% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which makes it probably the world’s biggest contribution to another community. Stopping the Flemish flow of money would force the Walloon government to take responsibility, and would give the Walloon economy an important boost, comparable to the great economic progress Slovakia made after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Our party is in favor of solidarity with other nations, but in a European context, in which the wealthier countries take measures in favor of the less wealthy. This solidarity should always be voluntary, transparent, negotiated and of course efficient and controlled.

Prominent people in favor of independence

In economic circles, more and more people realize that it is time for Flemish independence. At the end of 2005 already, Flemish captains of industry wrote an extensive manifesto, in which they pleaded for the division of the Belgian state. Among these prominent Flemish people that spoke up for a Flemish state are Herman De Bode (top executive of consulting firm McKinsey), René De Feyter (former director of the “Vlaams Economisch Verbond,” a Flemish employers’ organization and lobbying group), Manu Ruys (former editor in chief of the Flemish newspaper “De Standaard”), Guido Naets (journalist and former spokesman of the European Parliament), Frans Crols (director of the leading business magazine “Trends”) and Remi Vermeiren (former top executive of KBC, the third largest bank holding company in Belgium). These people prove that the Belgian form of government holds back economic development and keeps us from securing our prosperity. The Belgian establishment has never managed to refute this well-founded manifesto.

After Belgium - The Orderly Split-Up Synopsis

This English translation of the recent (2010) Vlaams Belang book is neither a political nor a polemical monograph. The political background of the authors suggests the contrary, but from the start - since the first initiatives for the O2-colloquium of 30 January 2010 - the authors wanted to provide inspiration for the inevitable debate on the dissolution of the Belgian federacy. Of course, this debate will take a political course. At the moment, however, it is still in its early stages. However, there is one very specific political angle: our reply on arguments that the dissolution of the Belgian Union and the foundation of a Flemish state (as a member state of the European Union, of course) would lead to so-called ‘revolutionary situations’ or even ‘chaos’. In their book, the authors explain that there is an alternative after the Belgian model has completed collapsed, there is a ‘Plan B’: the Orderly Split-Up of Belgium.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Hugo Chavez’ allies in Venezuela lashed out today at the critics of the dictator — who has been incommunicado in Cuba for the last two weeks while undergoing medical treatment — saying that those who question the health of Mr. Chavez are ghouls “dreaming of his death”.

In other news, an eight-year-old girl was used as a suicide bomber in Pakistan by the Taliban, in an attempt to blow up a police vehicle. The police officers were only injured, however, and the child was the sole fatality in the incident.

Meanwhile, a couple in Norway protested deforestation by having sex at the altar during a service at Oslo Cathedral, while an accomplice took photographs. All three were arrested.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dave, DT, Fjordman, JD, LAW Wells, Mary Abdelmassih, Salome, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

While I was away last week, Fjordman took a brief sabbatical from his “Human Accomplishment” series and posted an essay at Europe News about Edward Said and “Eurocentrism”. Some excerpts are below:

In his book Orientalism from 1978, Edward Said slammed what he considered to be the “racist ethnocentrism” of Europeans. Said argued that Western stereotypes of the “Orient” and Asia date back to ancient Greece. The only problem with Said’s claim is that it is utterly false, as is the entire basic premise of his book.

Probably all nations in the world are “ethnocentric” to some degree. This is not a specifically “European” quality; it is a human one. If anything, Europeans have not infrequently proved to be less ethnocentric than many other cultures.

The conclusion we can draw from these examples is this: Most Asian nations, and probably most nations elsewhere in the world, too, were simply too subjective and too ethnocentric to invent comparative linguistics. Treating their own language on the same level as those of alien peoples was mentally impossible and just wasn’t done.

Last Thursday morning I attended ACT! for America’s legislative briefing in the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. ACT once again invited legislators from both parties to speak to its assembled members and take questions, but for some reason only Republicans accepted the invitation.

Funny about that.

One senator and six congressmen spoke to us that morning. Two of the congressmen were freshmen from the “Tea Party” Class of 2010. Trent Franks, Sue Myrick, Louie Gohmert, and Pete King spoke to us last year; the other three were new to me. I’ll discuss their presentations in the order they were given.

Rep. Franks is a stalwart conservative. If all Republicans were like him, I might consider calling myself a Republican.

He is currently sponsoring a number of bills that are dear to the hearts of ACT! for America members — and to everyone else in the American Counterjihad. One focus of his talk was the danger of Iranian nuclear weapons, which he considers the most serious threat to American national security.

His greatest concern is the risk of a deliberately induced EMP (electromagnetic pulse) caused by a nuclear weapon detonated high over the continental United States, which could destroy the electrical grid and all unprotected electronic devices. The likely result would be to catapult the country back into an early 19th century level of technology, causing millions of deaths through starvation and disease. There’s no doubt that Iran would attempt an EMP attack if it were to gain the capability.

Rep. Franks has introduced the Shield Act (HR668), which will secure the electrical grid and power systems against EMP attacks.

Rep. Myrick is a dedicated anti-jihad activist who has extensive knowledge of the threat posed by the Islamic infiltration of America. She spoke at length about Al Qaeda, and discussed the apparent leadership struggle after Osama bin Laden’s death. Although Anwar al-Awlaki is reportedly vying with Ayman al-Zawahiri for control of the terrorist organization, she believes that their conflict is largely for show, and that Zawahiri is really pulling the strings.

She also discussed Pakistan, and the symbiosis between the ISI (Pakistan’s intelligence service) with various Al Qaeda affiliates.

Other topics covered were the use of “lawfare” by the Muslim Brotherhood as a weapon in the American court system, and the danger posed by Iranian nuclear weapons.

From my point of view, Ms. Myrick stumbled on the subject of Europe. She said that Europe had been funding Islamic radicals with connections to terrorist groups, but had recently changed course. Presumably she was basing her statement on recent news reports from the UK, in which the government admitted that it had funneled some £60 million to groups espousing extremist or Salafist ideologies. At the moment Mr. Cameron is still floundering, and can hardly be said to have changed course in any meaningful way.

The situation varies in other countries, with Denmark and Switzerland leading the way with sensible policies, and Sweden and Norway bringing up the rear with their tolerance and even support of the most vile Islamic groups. Only the Dutch could be said to be in the process of changing course, thanks to Geert Wilders.

After hearing Rep. Myrick’s views, Elisabeth and I were hoping to have a chance to brief someone on the congresswoman’s staff about the European situation, but she and her team were not at the luncheon that followed the legislative presentations.

I really took a liking to the two Tea Party freshmen. These are guys from red states, and both are still full of enthusiasm and dedication. Rep. Duncan focused on the need for energy security in the United States, and the necessity of making full use of our existing energy resources to reduce our dependence on Islamic oil.

He also discussed the importance of border security, decrying the porous nature of our southern border and the failure to enforce our immigration laws. Given the fact that Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Hamas are known to be infiltrating people into the USA through Mexico, it’s vital that we impose a full seal on the border so that all arrivals can be closely monitored and screened.

Here’s a disturbing news story about the latest pranks and antics of those fun-loving high-spirited “youths” in the Netherlands. It seems their new pastime is disrupting funerals — but only after they ascertain that the deceased is a non-Muslim.

Below is a video from Fox News about Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif (a.k.a. Joseph Anthony Davis) and Walli Mujahidh (a.k.a. Frederick Domingue Jr.), who planned a terrorist attack at a military recruiting station in Seattle. Both men are Muslim converts who were radicalized in prison.

Their glorious martyrdom operation was foiled by a government informant in their midst, who strung them along until they were arrested while attempting to purchase machine guns from FBI agents.

Note the protests by Abdul-Latif’s wife, who insists that her husband is a “good Muslim, a perfect Muslim”:

Below the fold is the keynote speech given by Rep. (LTC ret.) Allen West (R-FL) at the ACT! for America dinner gala this past Thursday evening.

As noted by Weasel Zippers, Col. West must be doing something right, because CAIR is already outraged about his “smearing” of Islam. Evidently his little joke about an “Irish Spring” got under their (microscopically thin) skins.

The European Union’s lack of military capability has made it somewhat of a joke in recent years. Among the various member states of the EU there are some exceptions — Denmark comes to mind — but, generally speaking, Western Europe lacks the capacity to defend itself without the help of the United States. If the American hegemon were to withdraw or collapse, Europe would become vulnerable to foreign predation long before it could rearm.

Not so Switzerland. The Swiss have a long tradition of muscular self-defense, and are now intent on beefing up the size and strength of their army. Many thanks to JLH for this translation from Politically Incorrect:

Switzerland Upgrades Its DefenseJune 19, 2011

The Swiss minister of defense, Ueli Maurer (SVP) has great plans for the future of the Swiss army. In defiance of all European trends to saving, there will again be 100,000 soldiers prepared to defend the country. Maurer would really like to raise the Swiss army from 80,000 to 120,000, but 100,000 will be approved by all parties and pass in parliament. This is a clear reversal from the politics of the 1990s, when the army was reduced. Equipment will also see more investment.

So what’s next? The Swiss Navy? A single aircraft carrier deployed on Lake Lucerne would match the combined naval air capabilities of Britain and France…

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Hunter and Semmelweis each have a score of 33, the same as Girolamo Fracastoro received. Hippocrates and Galen were founders of Western medicine as a profession although wrong in most of their medical pronouncements. Robert Koch, while less famous, was second only to Pasteur in establishing the germ theory of disease, the greatest revolution in medical history.

Just behind them follow the influential Greco-Roman pharmacologist Pedanius Dioscorides and the English immunologist Edward Jenner at 32 out of 100. Jenner’s work in the 1790s as the discoverer of vaccination for smallpox was so important that he deserves to be mentioned among the top twenty at least as much as Freud, although Freud here was ranked for purely medical contributions and the clinical description of mental illnesses, not for psychoanalysis.

I spent Thursday and part of Friday at the ACT! for America National Conference and Legislative Briefing in Washington D.C. I missed the Wednesday night cruise on the Potomac — I got out of here too late to make it in time. But on Thursday I attended the legislative briefing at the Capitol and the luncheon that followed it at the Capitol Hill Club, at which Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff was one of the speakers. She and I had to miss some of the later conference sessions back at the hotel, since we were fortunate enough to book a meeting with Congressman Allen West in his office that afternoon. That evening was the dinner gala, at which Col. West was the keynote speaker.

Friday morning saw two excellent presentations by Cliff Kincaid and Andy Bostom. I had read many of Mr. Kincaid’s writings in the past, but never had the opportunity to meet him until yesterday. Andy is already a friend, of course, and well-known to most Gates of Vienna readers.

My original plan was to write up the conference in a single post, but there was too much material; the result would be long and unwieldy. So I’ll break it up into several bite-size pieces, each covering a portion of the events.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As the late Root Boy Slim once sang: “I used to be from D.C., but they don’t want no more of me.”

I lived in the Washington area when I was young, residing at various times in the suburbs on both sides of the Potomac while commuting to work in D.C. itself. I didn’t like the place at the time, and it never grew on me. After five years of commuter hell I made a sensible career decision to relocate to rural Virginia, which is where I was born, and take up a vocation of poverty and privation as a landscape artist.

Every time I return to the area, I remember all too well why I left. The city’s suburbs have continued to expand, and now extend about thirty miles farther to the south and west than they did when I was a kid. The roads are more clogged and congested, much more of the landscape has been paved over, and the inner suburbs are now so culturally enriched that they seem more like Addis Ababa or Nogales than an American city.

So, all in all, I’m glad I got out. Being a lot wealthier wouldn’t have made living there worth it.

The greatest difference is in downtown Washington itself. Physically speaking, it hasn’t changed all that much in thirty-five years. There are more concrete-and-glass monstrosities housing the lobbying warrens on J, K, and L Streets, and the one-way system is even more baffling than it used to be. But from a superficial viewpoint, the city doesn’t look all that different.

Yet there is something creepy about the place. Back during the run-up to Desert Storm — which is now more than twenty years ago — I took the future Baron on a tour of the monuments and museums along the Mall. Everyone was terrified of a terrorist attack during the preparations for the war in Iraq, and it was the middle of winter, so most of the tourists had vanished from downtown Washington. I figured that it would be an ideal time to drive up there and take in the (mostly free) sights in Our Nation’s Capital.

I was right — we parked at a meter right next to the Washington Monument, and there was hardly anybody there except a few cops. There was almost no line waiting to ride to the top of the monument, where we braved the cold wind to look out over the city. Next we went to the Lincoln Memorial, had a quick look at the Capitol, visited the dinosaurs at the Smithsonian, saw the Air and Space Museum, and checked out the Botanical Gardens.

Even though we were in the midst of a terrorist scare, there were no metal detectors, no security barriers, no bag searches — it was still like the old days.

When I was a kid, you could just walk up the stairs into the Capitol. Any visitor could. But no more — those days are gone forever. The East Front has been ruined with the new underground visitors’ center through which everyone is funneled, and it’s just like the airport down there: long lines snaking out into the weather, X-rays, take your jacket off, bag searches, no liquids allowed — you all know the drill.

This is a refreshing change from all the usual PC cant about Islam. It’s good to see a frank acknowledgement from local Israeli officials of the threat posed by the presence of Muslims within the borders of Israel.

Not on only did the Beersheba municipality state that an active mosque in a Jewish city is a threat to its security, but the mayor even referred to Muslim prayers as “incitement”.

The Beersheba Municipality has rejected a petition by the Bedouin Muslims of the Negev to pray in the old mosque of Beersheba.

The Baseiso mosque was built in 1906 by the Ottoman Empire and served as a mosque until 1950. At that time, the Israelis decided to convert the mosque into a Museum for Islamic and Israeli culture.

The High Court of Justice rejected a petition by the Negev’s Muslim Committee and the Bedouin Rights Protection Foundation to convert the museum into a mosque for local Muslims to use it for prayer.

The Municipality stated that, “an active mosque in the heart of a Jewish city is unthinkable.” They also claimed that converting the museum back into a mosque for public prayer would threaten the city’s security.

Thanks to Fjordman, heroyalwhyness, JD, Nilk, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal published Geert Wilders’ reflections on his victory in court. Mr. Wilders’ thesis was a robust defense of “hurtful speech”.

A number of people sent us the link to the essay but the whole of it is behind their subscription firewall…and a subscription we have not got. Yeah, I could’ve “taken the borry” of someone else’s password, but I’d like to see them stay in business, soo…*

Imagine my surprise when I googled it this morning (hoping it had aged out) only to find the WSJ was giving out a “FREE PASS”…I don’t know if it will work for others, but I got to read the whole thing via this search string: Wilders: In Defense of ‘Hurtful’ Speech WSJ. Access also permits you to view the comments.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In Defense of ‘Hurtful’ Speech

I was tried for a thought crime despite being an elected politician and the leader of the third-largest party in the Dutch parliament.

By GEERT WILDERS

Yesterday was a beautiful day for freedom of speech in the Netherlands. An Amsterdam court acquitted me of all charges of hate speech after a legal ordeal that lasted almost two years. The Dutch people learned that political debate has not been stifled in their country. They learned they are still allowed to speak critically about Islam, and that resistance against Islamization is not a crime.

I was brought to trial despite being an elected politician and the leader of the third-largest party in the Dutch parliament. I was not prosecuted for anything I did, but for what I said. My view on Islam is that it is not so much a religion as a totalitarian political ideology with religious elements. While there are many moderate Muslims, Islam’s political ideology is radical and has global ambitions. I expressed these views in newspaper interviews, op-ed articles, and in my 2008 documentary, “Fitna.”

I was dragged to court by leftist and Islamic organizations that were bent not only on silencing me but on stifling public debate.

Mr. Wilders then quotes chapter and verse of the penal code which permitted his enemies to attempt this, and he then explains his motive [my emphasis and my bullet points -D]:

I was dragged to court for

statements that I made as a politician and,

which were meant to stimulate public debate in a country where public debate has stagnated for decades.

Dutch political parties see themselves as guardians of a sterile status quo.

I want our problems to be discussed.

I believe that politicians have a public trust to further debates about important issues.

I firmly believe that every public debate holds the prospect of enlightenment.

Hmmm…unfortunately, when one’s interlocutor is a progressive, the debate rules regarding civility are often sacrificed on “the ends justify the means” bloody altar, as anyone who has left an encounter covered with spittle can tell you. Not every public debate is worth the time it takes to argue with someone who long ago foreclosed on further thought in favor of how he "feels".

Wilders cites the reasons his persecution was permitted:

My views represent those of a growing number of Dutch voters, who have flocked to the Party for Freedom, or PVV. The PVV is the fastest-growing party in the country, expanding from one seat in the 150-seat House of Representatives in 2004, to nine seats in 2006 and 24 seats in 2010. My party’s views, however, are so uncommon in the Netherlands that they are considered blasphemous by powerful elites who fear and resent discussion.

Not only do they “fear and resent” discussion, such enemies will do all in their power to pre-empt and prevent any such dialogue in the first place.

That’s why I was taken to court, even though the public prosecutor saw no reason to prosecute me…

[…]

The Netherlands is one of the few countries in the world where a court can force the public prosecutor to prosecute someone.

Here in the U.S., the boundaries between law enforcement, prosecution, judicial oversight (and even civic ruling bodies) are beginning to crumble…

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The video, below the fold, is a conversation between Wilders and Ezra Levant following the former’s acquittal. In sum, Mr. Wilders says hate speech laws have to go. To which I will add, “Amen”, though not nearly as fervently as does the battle-tried Mr. Levant.

The following quote is excerpted from the Youtube notes put up by user sdamatt, who posted the video:

…in his closing statement, Wilders said that his controversial statements against Islam were protected by the right to free speech. Wilders said he believed the process of Islamization presents a threat to Europe and that it is his right and duty to warn the public about it.

If he had been convicted, Wilders could have faced up to one year in jail or a fine of up to €7,600 ($10,865). At the peak of the controversy over his statements, Wilders was once even banned from entering the United Kingdom.

[…]

Wilders’ comments sparked a massive debate on the integration of Muslims in Europe that has helped fuel other populist movements around the continent. In Germany , politician Thilo Sarrazin wrote a bestselling book warning that Muslim immigrants were dumbing down the country.

Meanwhile, don't forget the OIC is certain that the phenomenon known as Geert Wilders is due solely to those naughty Swiss who voted to ban minarets (no I don't have the link anymore. Look for their 2009 summary. It's a pdf and a real slog).

OIC officials continue to harass the Swiss government. They are sure the Swiss could simply void that referendum if they wanted. It appears that the OIC is not ready for prime time when it comes to a full grasp of the elements of democracy. We may have a chasm here that no amount of explaining will bridge.

“On the edge of legal acceptability,” eh? As for the latter part - “the broad context of a political and social debate” - the genius “jurists” are effectively conceding what I said when this racket got going - that the Dutch state was attempting to criminalize the political platform of a popular opposition party. That’s the sort of thing free societies should leave to Mubarak & Co, and even then, you can only get away with it for a while before people draw the obvious conclusion.

Nevertheless, as in all these cases, the process is the punishment. The intent is to make it more and more difficult for apostates of the multiculti state to broaden the terms of political discourse. Very few Europeans would have had the stomach to go through what Wilders did - and the British Government’s refusal to permit a Dutch Member of Parliament to land at Heathrow testifies to how easily the craven squishes of the broader political culture fall into line.

And at the end the awkward fact remains: Geert Wilders lives under 24-hour armed guard because of explicit death threats made against him by the killer of Theo van Gogh and by other Muslims. Yet he’s the one who gets puts on trial.

That’s the Netherlands, 2011.

The Netherlands has been like that centuries before 2011. Our favorite Dutch historian, Arthur Legger, has been outing the Dutch elites for years. He has suggested repeatedly that we return to the truth of what the Dutch really did -- or tried to do - to Spinoza. They might have succeeded but Spinoza had the last laugh: he died before they could kill him.

Legger says (in 2008) that his friends from other countries were asking what was going on:

How is it possible that so many Dutch politicians favour censorship and lawsuits, and that leading men of opinion openly and repeatedly compare Wilders to Goebbels and Hitler? How is this possible with your tradition of Spinoza?”

“How” indeed. As Mr. Legger has said reiterated to those willing to listen [my emphasis below - D], Dutch freedoms are limited to those the state considers ‘safe’:

Thanks to AC, Fjordman, Gaia, JL, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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